Bob woos Thomas with £139m offer

Monday 24 June 2002 23:00 BST

TELEVISION producer Hit Entertainment has made a fresh offer for Gullane, valuing the rival children's TV producer at £139m or 430p a share. Hit, whose characters include Bob the Builder to Barney the Dinosaur, is offering 1.5412 of its own shares and 860p in cash for every three Gullane shares.

The firm said it had the backing of investors representing more than 50% of Gullane's shares.

Hit approached Gullane, which owns TV character Thomas the Tank Engine, with an offer of around 500p a share in May, but withdrew its interest after Gullane warned on profits and took a £6.3m asset writedown. Last week Hit tabled an offer thought to be worth around 420p a share, which Gullane dismissed as too low.